There is no doubt that public-private partnerships have an increasingly vital role to play in South Africa but are these partnerships as clear-cut as they seem? Unfortunately not.

Dial Direct Insurance learnt this the hard way when its Pothole Brigade initiative, which cost the company R1-million a month to maintain, got entangled in red tape and tender processes that never materialised.

This has forced the free initiative, which repaired over 50 000 potholes in and around Johannesburg, to sadly conclude its services.

“After long and careful deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to disband our highly-successful and value-adding Pothole Brigade. This is a terrible disappointment to us as well as to motorists of Gauteng,” said Bradley Du Chenne, senior executive of Dial Direct Insurance.

Motorists using roads currently included in the brigade’s scope of repair will have until the end of May 2012 to report potholes for repair. The services of The Dial Direct Pothole Brigade will be suspended at the end of June 2012.

“We have not come to this decision lightly and it is by no means a reflection of the brigade’s relevance, performance or success. Gauteng road users continue to be plagued by an ever-escalating number of potholes however, our efforts have been continually thwarted and at the end of the day. The Dial Direct Pothole Brigade cannot be sustained without the buy-in and support of authorities,” said Du Chenne.

The Dial Direct Pothole Brigade’s pilot-project with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) came to an end in October 2011, despite repeated calls to re-instate it.

“More than 30 000 potholes were filled for free by Dial Direct in Johannesburg alone before the project came to a grinding halt after some city service providers complained that the initiative did not comply with the stipulations of the Municipal Financial Management Act. As such, the JRA had to formalise procedures and framework structures and needed to incorporate the repair of potholes into a tender process.

“While waiting for confirmation on the future of the pothole filling campaign with the JRA, we continued to work with the Gauteng Provincial Department of Roads and Transport on outlying main roads in Johannesburg and Pretoria. We also worked with the Ekurhuleni Municipality to fill potholes on the East Rand.

“Although these campaigns have been a marked success, the overwhelming majority of requests, 80 percent, came from motorists travelling on JRA serviced roads inside of the N14.

“With our efforts to deliver our pothole filling service where it’s most-needed being thwarted by red tape, we had to carefully weigh-up the true costs of this initiative not only financially but to our brand as well,” said Du Chenne.

“We thank Trafficare who managed the brigade on our behalf. We are also grateful to Lead SA for partnering with us. We certainly would have preferred the alternative which would be to continue delivering pothole filling services in partnership with amenable municipalities in areas where these services are most-needed,” said Du Chenne.

Lead SA’s, Terry Volkwyn, said: “We are also disappointed that Dial Direct was forced to close down The Pothole Brigade. When we endorsed it at Lead SA, we wanted to stand up, do the right thing and make a difference. There is little doubt that we did. However, it’s clear that local authorities do not appreciate the response to government’s repeated calls for public-private partnerships.

“Red-tape seems to be a common excuse. The Pothole Brigade saved the provincial government and municipalities millions of rands. Now, ratepayers will again be forced to foot the bill. Dial Direct must be lauded for trying to make a difference and the non co-operation from authorities is a sad reflection on how this excellent initiative was undermined,” said Volkwyn.

She said: “We have to ask the question why local authorities would want to pay for filling potholes while the private sector is willing to do it for nothing. This raises serious questions.”

Ekurhuleni Metro and JRA are still to comment on the above announcement.